Hotel Victoria — Hotel in Qonaev

It is a little difficult to understand how this hotel was reviewed as an oasis by a previous reviewer, given the normal understanding of oases as being places of tranquility, and the fact this hotel is situated beside some of the busiest train tracks in Kazakhstan. If, like us, you like to sleep with the window open, this will impinge on your sleep quality, as all trains approach a nearby level crossing and whistle. That said, we had had a long day in the Altyn Emel national park (3 hours drive away) and were relieved to arrive and find the hotel without too much difficulty (it is just off the ring road), and to discover that the bizarrely named "Botsman Pab" restaurant was open until 2 in the morning, and the parking outside was secure. The food in the "Pab" exceeded expectations by being a bit more interesting and wide ranging in variety than often in these parts, with a Uighur influence.||||The standard rooms were modern and newly renovated in appearance, a reasonable size, and the beds were comfortable, although the double bed was pushed up against the wall and could only be entered from one side. The bathrooms were clean and functional in a bland, western hotel kind of way. Examination of the exterior of the hotel in daylight suggested this was probably a soviet era hotel, which has had a recent and thorough overhaul, perhaps in order to attract Chinese gambling fanatics, who come to the many casinos in Kapshagai. We felt this was good value, both for food and for the standard of the accommodation. Our standard room cost 10,000 kzt a night, but was of a different and much better quality to many of the places we have recently stayed in the likes of Karaganda, Semey, Oskemen and Alakol. There is a spa and fitness centre here, but we did not use it. Wifi only available on the 3rd floor, we were told, but our friends sleeping on the 2nd floor did manage to access it using the code...

Updated review because we're on a long road trip, driving though town, and stayed here again. Why the heck did we do that? Because it's probably the best choice there is....but still...we barely touched the curtain and it fell to the floor, the shower is terrible, the room was cold, and they told us there was no breakfast when clearly the only other guest in the hotel was eating fried eggs, bread, and porridge at a table in the restaurant. Now it's 9AM and we're driving away hungry and angry. They told us the restaurant opens at noon. We didn't need a fancy omelette. A simple bowl of porridge would have been fine.

There's no nicer place to stay right inside town. If you really must stay in town then this is it but don't expect much. Here's my old review from the last time we were here:

It was alright. The best thing about the place was the omelette in the restaurant in the lobby. The employee was rude. We got stuck in the elevator and when we told her about it she didn't believe us. Why would I lie about something like that? We didn't take the elevator again. It was the stairs the rest of the stay for us. All she needed to do was apologize. Hell, she could have lied to us and said she was going to call a repair guy and then not done it, but to roll her eyes at us and clearly show she didn't believe us? I know there are some cultural differences between Kazakhs and Americans but this was pretty bad. We've stayed in several...

The location was right off of the highway, close to the casinos, and had a local grocery store less than a mile away.||The room was spacious. The AC worked great and it had a very large bathroom.||The best part of the trip was the large outdoor pool. Which was cool and refreshing on a very hot day. We ordered food from the bar/restaurant a couple of pizzas and some french fries. The food was OK to good service was friendly and professional.||There was no Wi-Fi in the rooms, and there were no non-smoking rooms. Our room smelled of smoke very bad so much that we had to buy an air freshener for the two days that we were there. They provided a mini bar with three bottles of water two ice teas. We drink one of the waters and we're going to pay for it when we check out but there was a 10% service charge so we paid them an additional 30 Tenge. ||The price of $55 USD seemed very high for this part of the country of Kazakhstan. ||*Note: English speaking individuals at the hotel and the general area is very,...